1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to power assisted upright cleaners or the like and, more specifically, to a neutralling arrangement for the actuating linkage of such a power assisted appliance.
2. Summary of the Prior Art
Manipulation of the actuating linkage of a power drive cleaner or other allied appliance such as a power drive for a power assisted lawn mower by reciprocation of an attached hand grip of such an appliance is well known. It is also well known to provide a positive stop for the hand grip in its reciprocation along the handle for neutralling the actuating linkage. Such positive stops have taken the form of a hand grip mounted manually manipulated oppositely spring urged button-pin member that engage in a handle bore, an oppositely urged leaf spring detent forced by a handle button into such a handle bore, a rocking bore aperture engaging locking lever, a rotating pin carried by a hand grip movable into a short side slot and an aperture engaging spring detent driven by a rotatable ring member.
Although all of these prior art structures offer some advantages, not all of them include a self seeking or presetting feature. The two having this feature appear to be the one having a leaf spring detent and the one having a rotatable ring member. The first of these suffers, e.g., by the utilization of a long, bent cantilever spring proving presetting and the dependence on this spring for a large number of cycles over the life of its cleaner. The second of these suffers, e.g., by the fact that it requires a rotary operator motion for presetting rather than an erogonimically easier straight line movement and again the use of a leaf spring, albeit an annular one.
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide an improved neutralling arrangement for a power assisted cleaner.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide a neutralling arrangement for a power assisted appliance having a self seeking or presettable attribute.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a neutralling arrangement having a neutralling pin constantly urged towards neutral position.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a neutralling arrangement where a manually operated neutralling button releases a neutralling pin for movement towards neutralling position.